Elon Musk

Chief executive officer, Tesla Motors

As Chairman, Product Architect and CEO, Elon Musk drives the development of Tesla’s product strategy, product development and design efforts. Elon has been involved in key product decisions since the start of Tesla Motors, co-leading design of the Tesla Roadster, for which he won an Index and a Global Green award, the latter presented by Mikhail Gorbachev.

Elon has influenced the design, performance goals and technology roadmap of the Tesla Roadster from the early developmental phase to the finished product in production today. Today, Elon is working with other members of the team to drive continuous improvements in the Roadster while preparing the company’s second car, a sports sedan, for mass production.

He also serves as Chairman of Tesla Motors and has been the principal funder of the company, having provided the Series A and B funding and co-leading the Series C, D and bridge financings. Elon is also CEO and CTO of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Chairman of the board of Solar City. Previously, Elon co-founded Zip2 and PayPal.

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies may lose a spacecraft launch order from a major customer, Inmarsat, even as the European satellite operator voiced confidence in the rocket company’s ability to return to flight this year.

Elon Musk said his goal is to make solar roofs that look better than an ordinary roof, generate power and last longer, all at an installed cost that is less than a normal roof plus the cost of electricity.

Shareholders of Tesla and SolarCity approved Tesla’s $2.1 billion all-stock offer to merge and create one company headed by Elon Musk that would sell emissions-free cars and solar panels that help power them.

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has filed a proposal with the Federal Communications Commission to launch, eventually, 4,000 satellites to provide internet access for the world. Facebook and Google also have satellite ambitions, working together and separately.

Tesla Motors has begun equipping all of its vehicles with hardware to make the vehicles fully self-driving, and CEO Elon Musk expects to demonstrate a self-driven cross-country trip by the end of next year.

Tesla Motors Chief Executive Elon Musk outlined a new model for vehicle sharing and announced several new electric vehicles under development at the auto maker, including much heavier products requiring significant capital and new staffing at a time when the company is losing money.

By combining SolarCity and Tesla, Elon Musk hopes to create an integrated renewable-energy company that can sell solar panels as well as batteries—but demand for such batteries, especially among home consumers, remains extremely small.